Biography

Biography

Jan Wilke studied school music and music theory at the Mannheim Conservatory as well as church music and choral conducting at the Academy of Church Music Heidelberg and passed with distinction in choir conducting and organ playing. Besides his studies he conducted several church choirs and Gesangsvereine as well as the Altrip chamber choir and acted as an assistant to Wolfgang Seeliger for the Konzertchor Darmstadt. From 2013 to 2014 he undertook a Master’s degree in Choral Conducting with CBE Simon Halsey at the University of Birmingham, also graduating with distinction. He was an active participant in master classes with Simon Carrington, Daniel Reuss, Morten Schuldt-Jensen and Peter Hanke as well as the international master class of the Rundfunkchor Berlin with Simon Halsey and Grete Pedersen. Jan Wilke is also musical director of the Friedrich-Spee-Chor Trier, an oratory choir rich in tradition, with which he performs both the choral symphonic repertoire as well as demanding a cappella programmes.

Since 2017 Jan has been teaching as a lecturer at the Academy of Church Music in Heidelberg, instructing bachelor and master students in the art of choral conducting.

Besides conducing, Jan pursues a successful career as a composer, mostly of choral music, and has received several prizes at national and international composition contests, among them the first prize at the "Gebt uns Noten!" competition of the Deutsche Chorverband and the "Knapp Award for Choral Excellence" of the "Meistersingers" Choir in California. His music has been performed in many European countries and in the USA and has been recorded professionally. Some of his pieces have been published by Helbling-Verlag.

Jan is also an avid organist and pianist, performing in concerts regularly both as an accompanist and solo.